As reported by The edge Over the weekend, legendary repair advocates at iFixit.com plan to put up essentially every piece of the Steam Deck for sale, including the motherboard with its custom AMD chip. While the news of this was undoubtedly exciting for Steam Deck fans, iFixit went to Twitter to note that the news was a bit premature and that a full reveal of the spare parts offering is yet to come.
Although the Steam Deck is a powerful and impressive machine, many have noticed Key areas where it could be improved
When you combine that with the fact that Valve — a lot like it did for his now departed Steam Controller (RIP my darling) – created the CAD files for the Steam Deck available under a Creative Commons licenseand designed the machine to be remarkably modular Compared to other controllers and handheld devices, it’s hard not to be impressed and inspired by this machine’s potential to become the gold standard for user repairability in the video game space.
All of this matters when you consider the reality that virtually every controller out there seems to have suffer from the inevitable “drift”,
Beyond repair capabilities, access to fan-designed CAD files has inspired solutions for accessories that Valve has yet to manufacture itself. A journey through the thingiverse will reveal all kinds of stands, docksand battery holder Designed by gamers with an eye for technology and access to a 3D printer.
This starts with a newer system failing to live up to the hype or live up to fans’ hopes Still fresh in memory, it’s interesting to watch a community taking solutions and ideas into their own hands. Hopefully, services like iFixit that offer high-quality replacement parts and teardown/repair videos can stimulate greater general awareness and education about the repairability of gaming equipment, and encourage manufacturers to think more about their construction methods and repair options.